Collision between tug, tanker closes Mississippi River at New Orleans
 The Coast Guard closed 29 miles (47 kilometers) of the Mississippi River at New Orleans after a 600-foot (183-meter) tanker and a barge loaded with fuel oil collided, breaking the barge in half.
Nobody was injured, but more than 419,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of heavy fuel oil spilled from the barge, said Lt. Cdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau, a Coast Guard spokeswoman
The double-hulled tanker Tintomara was loaded with about 4.2 million gallons (15.9 million liters) of biodiesel bound for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and nearly 1.3 million gallons (4.9 million liters) of styrene bound for Hamburg, Germany, but was not leaking, said Michael Wilson, president of ship management company Laurin Maritime (America) Inc. in Houston. The company is a subsidiary of Goteborg, Sweden-based Laurin Maritime AB.
The Liberian-flagged tanker is owned by Whitefin Shipping Co. Ltd. of Gibraltar. The tanker had only minor damage, the management company said.
The collision occurred about 1:30 a.m. CDT (0630 GMT) just upriver from the Crescent City Connection, a pair of bridges between New Orleans' east and west banks.
The river was closed about 3:30 a.m. (0830 GMT), about 45 minutes after someone reported a strong odor of diesel coming from the river, Young said. Tug boats were holding the halves of the barge in place, she said.
Styrene is a colorless, sweet-smelling liquid used to make plastics and rubber, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Ben-Iesau said the state Department of Environmental Quality made sure that all water intakes and sensitive environmental areas downriver from the spill were boomed off to keep the fuel oil out.
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